Criminal charges are pending against a driver involved in a head-on crash that killed a motorcyclist in Union County, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The victim, 25-year-old John Paul Gupton, of Maynardville, was traveling north on a Kawasaki motorcycle along Maynardville Highway at 8:46 p.m. Sunday when a southbound pickup swerved into oncoming traffic and struck him, a THP incident report states.

Gupton was wearing a helmet.

The pickup's driver, Kenneth Lee Heatherly, 18, of Andersonville, Tenn., told the investigating trooper he swerved into the northbound lanes to avoid another vehicle that had stopped to make a left-hand turn, according to the report.

Neither Heatherly nor the 12-year-old boy who was passenger in the pickup was injured. Both occupants were wearing seat belts.

It was not immediately clear whether Heatherly was arrested at the scene.

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